1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle transfer apparatus, which performs a transfer of a vehicle body between an upper-side conveyance line and a lower-side conveyance line that are installed in a vehicle assembly line.
2. Description of Relevant Art
Conventionally, a vehicle assembly line includes a hanger-type conveyance line and a support-type conveyance line.
The hanger-type conveyance line suspends a vehicle body using a conveyance hanger in order to install various parts, such as an engine, a transmission, an exhaust nozzle, and tires etc., which are normally installed from a bottom-side of the vehicle body. The support-type conveyance line holds the vehicle body using a slat conveyor from a bottom-side of the vehicle body in order to install exterior parts etc., which are normally installed from an upper-side of the vehicle body.
In this kind of the assembly line, a vehicle body transfer apparatus, which transfers a vehicle body from the hanger-type conveyance line to the support-type conveyance line, is provided.
As an example of this kind of the vehicle body transfer apparatus, the vehicle body transfer apparatus disclosed in Japanese unexamined Patent Publication No. H11-268823 has been discovered.
The apparatus disclosed in this Japanese unexamined Patent Publication is composed of guide-stanchions positioned on both sides of a vehicle body to be transferred, a lift-unit which moves in an up-and-down direction along the guide-stanchion, and a support-base which moves in a horizontal direction from the lift-unit and changes the total length thereof in order to support the vehicle body.
In this vehicle body transfer apparatus, a vehicle body is once passed to a support tool disposed on the support-base from the conveyance hanger at the upper-side of the vehicle body transfer apparatus. Then, the vehicle body is moved downwardly together with the lift-unit and is passed to a slat conveyor positioned in a lower-side of the vehicle body transfer apparatus.
In this apparatus, normally, the vehicle body is transferred while supporting a flange of a side-sill of the vehicle body using the support tool, when performing the transfer of the vehicle body. This is because each jack-up point of the vehicle body is already being supported by the conveyance hanger in order to convey the vehicle body.
In this conventional vehicle body transfer apparatus, since the flange of the side-sill of the vehicle body is held by the support tool, the impact, which is caused when the vehicle body is passed to the support tool from the conveyance hanger or when the lift-unit is stopped at the predetermined position, may cause the deformation on the flange of the side-sill.
Therefore, the vehicle body transfer apparatus, by which a vehicle body is surely transferred between the upper-side conveyance line and the lower-side conveyance line without causing the deformation on the vehicle body, has been required.